Local blog round-up (snow day edition)

This year's route map for Biking Across Kansas. Image found here.

No trip to Andover today, as Butler cancelled classes for the day. So, my faithful dog Scruffy and I stayed inside most of the day, watching it snow, listening to music, and reading blogs. And what did you do with your time today?

The blog links are forthcoming. First, though, a reminder and some "ringer" entries: a couple of things that aren't local or in the immediate area but are indeed worth knowing about.

The reminder: Sunday the 31st is the last day to participate in the survey for the Wichita Initiative to Renew the Environment, which I posted on and linked to here.

I learned just a couple of days ago by accident (through a link to this humble blog) of the existence of Bike Topeka, a fairly new blog that appears to be very much a part of a burgeoning cycling community there. Topeka has of late become a hive of activity regarding cycling and livability issues. Most local folks know that Topeka's city council passed a Complete Streets ordinance back in November, and in this recent article, the city council overrode (by an 8 to 1 vote) the mayor's veto of a plan to fund the extension of a bike path. Today's post is a reprinting (if that's the right term in the online world) of an article that appeared in the online edition of the Capital-Journal about the just-opened Topeka Community Cycle Project. (We have one of those, too, as some of you know--drop me a line, guys; I'd like to pay a visit.) Anyway, it's good to see these green shoots of bike culture springing up in the state capital.

Meanwhile, from more or less the corner of the state opposite Topeka comes the news via Kansas Cyclist that Garden City's comprehensive plan calls for a complete streets policy. I can only say both that a) I'm happily stunned to learn that Garden City is this forward-thinking; and b) that it's frankly a bit embarrassing that a city of around 20,000 in a remote area of the state is more forward-thinking in its street planning than the state's largest city is. I know, I know: change is coming here, too, and sooner than some might think. But still.

On to the round-up. Not many new posts out there, so apologies for the brevity:

Speaking of the Wichita Bicycle Collective, it's beginning to stir from its winter hibernation: It now has a clean garage and everything. An early spring on the way?

If you haven't found your way to Adventure Monkey yet, you need to. Eric's generous entries (a combination of trip diary, motivation and really fine photographs of Flint Hills landscape and buildings and small towns) are infectous in their joy and enthusiasm. In this post from last Sunday, Eric rides into a strong north wind to Council Grove and brings back some stunning pictures, especially of clouds moving in.

The Coasters Bicycle Club has a quiz up that tests participants' knowledge of Coaster club and Wichita bicycle lore. I failed miserably, but you probably won't--and even if you do, you get the answers and get an education.

Over at River City Cyclist, Robert announces his intention to ride in this year's Biking Across Kansas. He is nervous but excited and even has a "battle plan" to get in shape for the June ride. Wish him well.

That's all for this weekend. There'll be another round-up next weekend

Local blog round-up (bike repair edition)

Image found here.

It had been my intention, last weekend and this, to ride around to a couple of places to get a sense of the current state of things regarding the overt subject of this blog. Alas. I came to realize last Saturday that a) my rear tire wasn't holding air; and b) my tire pump was broken and so couldn't air up my tire. So, as I type this my bike is up on the rack over at Bicycle X-Change; in return for this link to their place, my bike is getting some new tubes and the basic maintenance stuff, for--wait for it--full price for all of it! Oh, these perks we get in Blog Land!

(Just so no one misunderstands: Of course I didn't tell them I'd be mentioning them here, much less hint around for a discount. If my tires hold air and hold up through the coming year, I'll be more than happy, and Bicycle X-Change will get more of my business and, I hope, some of yours as well.)

Here are some links to what local and area cycling bloggers have had to say in the recent past:

Actually, this first post isn't especially recent (it's from last August), and it isn't from someone who self-identifies as a cycling blogger. But Jim's open letter to the City Council and, in particular, District 4 Representative Paul Gray is worth drawing belated attention to. For Councilman Gray to be dismissive of cycling on the grounds that it isn't a major form of transportation and no one on the council bikes to work is, sadly, a widespread attitude here--one that runs the risk of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Obviously, one hope I have for this blog is that it can do something about at least complicating that attitude. True: not many people bike on a regular basis here in town, but more people should--and would--if the city were inclined to be more foreward-leaning in providing infrastructure and encouraging development that is conducive to cycling. As for the "no one I know" argument, well, the rebuttal to that is, "Well, there are lots of people you don't know--and many of them would ride bikes to work if the city would spend a few tens of thousands of dollars and re-stripe a few streets."

Okay. Consider the choir preached to. Thank you, Jim, for your post. I don't know how many people read it, but it needs to be re-read. Here's hoping some eyeballs find their way over there.

Over at Adventure Monkey, Eric has two long but worthwhile posts up (with pictures) about a couple of long-distance rides he's just made. But they're more than simple "this is what I saw" posts; Eric has a long-term goal of getting in shape for this year's Dirty Kanza 200, so he writes as well about the psychology of these long rides, especially when confronting fatigue or wind. Their honesty and enthusiasm make for compelling reading, I think. Here, for instance, Eric's great lesson is that physically he can hang with at least some folks more accustomed to riding long distances; and here, he writes compellingly about the power of visualization to get him through a stiff headwind:

Even on the way back riding into the wind, I was pushing harder than I have in a long time. I felt great, mentally and physically. Any negative thought was captured and removed before I let it fester in my mind. It was a dreary morning with a strong headwind, and it felt great to be alive. Part of this was because I was on a bike. Bicycles are magical and have the power to let you experience the world first hand in a way that can only be felt while powering yourself on a bike. When I had made it home and completed my ride, I felt incredible, invincible. My adventure Monkey was curled up in a ball, sucking his thumb, asleep with a full belly.

Good stuff and, in all seriousness, something I'll hang on to the next time I hit that strong headwind those last couple of miles of my commute to McConnell.

Over at Cycling & CX, David does some out-loud planning for National Winter Bike to Work Day (back on January 20) in his role as the faculty sponsor of the Newton H.S. Bike Club. Here's hoping that went well. David's post leads me to throw out a bleg to my reader(s): Do you know of any other school-sponsored cycling clubs in the area? Let me know if you do, either in comments or at "blogmeridian AT sbcglobal DOT net."

At River City Cyclist, Robert posts on the small dirt track at Chapman Park; he includes a satellite photo and some pics on the site itself. It appears to get little use, so those who are so inclined need to head down there and remedy that particular problem.

Randy of the Coasters Bicycle Club notes that the club will be participating in the Delano District's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade on Saturday, March 13.

That's all for now. The next round-up will be next weekend-ish.

[Update: I've been fiddling around here--I've added a "Search Cycling in Wichita" box, rearranged the links some so that they feel a bit more logical in their sequence, and added some links (in particular some more Cycle Chic blogs) and a Streeetsblog badge as a small thank you to them for having featured a couple of posts of mine on their main page. Some more rearranging to come, perhaps.]

New places to visit

Via Kansas Cyclist and River City Cyclist, here are some new-to-me area cycling blogs . . . and a bike-powered delivery service:

Adventure Monkey. Eric is an avid cyclist and photographer in Emporia. His pictures are chiefly landscapes, and most of them are of the Flint Hills and other Kansas-y places.

Cycling and CX. David is in Newton and describes his interests this way: "I teach debate and love cycling. I talk about those things."

Vélocourier Wichita. Serves much of central Wichita during the daylight hours of the business week.

I'll be posting links to these folks in the appropriate places in the right gutter.

Riders of Rohan patrol the blogosphere

I had intended to post a link to this earlier, but seeing Riders of Rohan's flyer at Bicycle X-Change yesterday reminded me: RoR has a MySpace page. As I mentioned before RoR meets every Friday at 7 pm at the Vagabond on Douglas in the Delano District. Those of you looking for a different sort of cruising-on-a-Friday-night experience might want to check them out.

The Wichita cycling blogosphere grows!

Written by Chris, who appears to live in the College Hill area, Random Chaos is a brand-new blog. Its maiden entry, from Monday the 8th, concerns a ride he took down Douglas to West Douglas Park and back. He's very detail-oriented; he includes information on his heart rate and even on his cadence.

Chris already is a serious cyclist; here's hoping he keeps spreading the word via his blog as well. I hope you'll go over and make his acquaintance. And of course, if you have or know of another Wichita-area cycling blog, I hope you'll let me know. The more of us are out there in the blogosphere posting on our experiences, the more we might get others to be thinking about cyclists before they see us out on the streets.

50 States--100 Bike Blogs

I learned today that Cycling in Wichita was chosen by Jason of 100 KM as one of two Kansas cycling blogs to appear on his list of 100 U.S. cycling blogs (the other is the inimitable Commuter Dude, somewhere over in Johnson County.

As all of us know, sometimes a little question starts pestering us--an intellectual itch needs scratching. Jason's was, Can I find at least two cycling blogs for each of the 50 states? The answer, after a couple of weeks of searching, is Yes.

Here follows are some of Jason's guiding principles for choosing the blogs that would appear on his list:

I didn't have a completely set criteria for the bike blogs I chose beyond only two per state, but I did favor those that update regularly when I could. I tried to mix in some famous (dare I say canonical) bike blogs that I read regularly, with a bunch of others that I hadn't come across before. I also wanted to get a good mix of mountain bikers, bike commuters, hipsters, advocates, roadies and randos- and I think I did fairly well in that regard. The cycling diversity that I found throughout the country was downright American and reinforced what a powerful and unlimited tool for fun, utility and community the bicycle is.

Somehow or other, this blog fit in there, and I'm humbled and honored that it did, especially when any number of equally-deserving blogs could--and in some cases should--have been chosen before this one was.

I'll be putting a link to this list over in the gutter; in the meantime, I hope you'll go visit Jason's list, visit some blogs and, as Jason notes, get a sense of the diverse community that cyclists form in this country.

Thanks again, Jason.

Many thanks . . .

. . . to bike-blog extraordinaire Cyclelicious for the very very generous plug for this humble blog.

Welcome, visitors from thence. I hope you'll have a look around and enjoy some of what you find. And to my regular visitors, if you haven't already you'll want to make yourselves acquainted post-haste with that bike-blog by the Bay.

Planet Bicycle #2: Mackinac Island

A bike-lot on Mackinac Island. Image found here.

This morning, while beating the Google-bushes in search of Academics Who Bike, I happened upon Bike Noob, kept by Ray, a professor of journalism at Texas State University, née Southwest Texas State University (which, by the by, saw fit to award your correspondent with an MA in English back in the dark ages of 1989). Ray is not, strictly speaking, an AWB, seeing as he does not also keep a day-job blog. But I've linked to him anyway in the Cycling Blogs section because he's a good writer and he's from home.

Anyway. The picture you see above was taken by Ray during his and his wife's recent trip to Mackinac Island, which he posts about here. Mackinac Island, located in Lake SuperiorHuron, is accessible only by ferry, and the only permitted modes of transportation there are horses and bicycles. It's not quite Amsterdam or Copenhagen or what Andrew saw in Helsinki as shown in this post, but it's a glimpse, no?